Basketball Announcers and Commentators: What Did He Just Say?

Basketball announcers and commentators have some of the most difficult jobs in sports. Giving an accurate description of game action with all the fast-moving parts is a true skill. We have our favorites; others may annoy us at times and still others have us reaching for the mute button. Some are content to let the game the main attraction while others attempt to outshine the event. Then, of course, we have the homers who think the referees have it in for their team.

I wish I didn’t care so much; an announcer or commentator can actually make or break a televised event for me if the game isn’t compelling enough to hold my interest, and I’ve heard some head-scratching comments over the years.

Here are just a few:

DOUBLE-DOUBLES ARE COOL…IF YOU WIN

The Knicks recently acquired Emmanuel Mudiay,  their fourth point guard–this after using their 2017 lottery pick to draft one–who, in his first game, scored 14 points and handed out 10 assists during an eight-point defeat at Indiana on February 11th; while the Knicks’ play-by-play announcer proudly proclaimed that the newbie had “notched a double-double in his Knick debut.”

He played reasonably well without having a true practice under his belt, but since he had the audacity to record double-figures in two of the primary categories (in this age of analytics), some of the post-game evaluations went bit over the top, with one local scribe referring to the performance as “stellar”.

The truth of the matter is that while Mudiay was his usual aggressive self offensively– perhaps a welcome sight for fans after watching the rookie Frank Ntilikina’s passive tendencies with the ball–he did shoot 5-for-14 from the field, which is one of the reasons, along with a penchant for turning the ball over, the Denver Nuggets gave up on their 21-year-old, third-year former lottery pick.

Earlier in the week, Knick rookie Luke Kornet was called up from the G-League after Kristaps Porzingis’ season-ending knee injury and recorded a double-double of his own with 11 points and 10 rebounds during a 25-point loss at Toronto. Someone thought it was important enough to look up (and report) the fact that it was last done by a Knicks’ rookie in 1996 by John Wallace.

(I thought it was important enough to look up the John Wallace game; the Knicks won that one. Over Toronto.)

Recently retired former Knick David Lee earned a reputation for posting double-figures in points and rebounds while the team was winning 30 games perseason early in his career, then continued with the Golden State Warriors and despite some defensive shortcomings earned a couple of All-Star berths in the process, though he was never considered a transcendent player.

One of the worst double-double performances I’ve ever witnessed was by future Hall-of-Famer Vince Carter as a member of the then New Jersey Nets during a playoff game they lost a little over a decade ago. He scored about 35 points and handed out at least 10 assists, but he shot 15-for-37 from the floor (a good many of them forced and off-balance and poorly-timed), and had seven turnovers.  But that didn’t stop the local sports blurbs from claiming the Nets had “wasted” a 35-point performance and double-double from Vince Carter, who’d probably admit that wasn’t one of his better games.

Those double-doubles are still the rage, but you gotta win the game.

LIVE BY THE THREE, THEN WHAT?

After watching nearly two hours of a basketball game played almost exclusively beyond the three-point arc, and after watching one team get hot from the perimeter while building a double-digit lead, and after watching the other team climb back into contention by converting on their own string of three-point attempts, and after watching low-post players on both sides frantically calling for the ball with advantageous offensive positioning against smaller defenders under the basket only to be ignored by three-point-happy teammates, and after watching a game where there was no possibility of a three-second violation being called, and after watching guards penetrate the opposing defense to within a few feet of the basket only to pass the ball outside to an open (or contested) three-point shooter, and after watching players with no business attempting three-pointers attempt three-pointers, and after a timeout by the team in possession of the ball but trailing by five points with about 40 seconds left in the game, and after being asked the potential strategy of the trailing team by the play-by-play announcer, here’s the perfectly canned response from the color commentator:

“THEY DON’T NECESSARILY NEED A THREE HERE…”

Oh, really?

So after shunning penetration, layups, post-ups and mid-range shots and jacking up three-pointers for the entire contest, the team must now look inside for a high-percentage shot with the game on the line, if they can remember how.

So now let’s assume the team trailing by five scores a quick layup, then gets a defensive stop and now have the ball down by three points with about 15 seconds left in the game. It’s clear the team with the ball needs a three-pointer, but what about the defensive strategy?

“THEY CAN’T GIVE UP A THREE HERE…”

I give up.

TURNOVERS: GOOD PITCHING OR BAD HITTING?

Turnovers are in the eyes of the beholder, it seems. I can remember watching (on television) an Atlanta Hawks – New York Knicks matinee contest played at Madison Square Garden a couple of years ago where it was clear that several of the Hawks players, for whatever reason, didn’t get enough sleep the night before. Errant passes, charging fouls, sloppy dribbling and poor shooting (mostly front-rim jobs) against minimal defensive pressure all contributed to a lopsided road defeat. The Knicks haven’t been known for their defensive prowess since the Patrick Ewing years, but it would be unfair to suggest that they weren’t responsible for several of the 26 turnovers the Hawks would commit that afternoon. But there was no evidence of a Hawks’ curfew the night before.

So of course, a couple of nights later, the Knicks’ telecast opened with this beauty from their play-by-play guy:

“The Knicks will be looking to build upon their defensive performance Sunday’s matinee against the Atlanta Hawks where they forced 26 turnovers.”

Homerism is one thing, but that’s just pants on fire.